NEW YORK – Eighty-four percent of the 50 largest credit unions in the U.S. offer standalone free checking accounts to all members, which is up from 76% last year, according to a new study from Bankrate.com.
That figure is more than double the percentage (38%) of the largest banks that offer free checking, Bankrate.com added.
While the numbers show large CUs adding free checking, other data indicate that credit unions overall are slowly moving away from the product. As CUToday.info has reported, data assembled by Moebs $ervices for all credit unions show that as of January 2017, 75.1% of CUs offered free checking, down from 79.6% in 2014.
Meanwhile, among large CUs, “It gets better,” Bankrate.com said in a release. “Most of the accounts that aren’t outright free offer waivers to avoid the fee. Altogether, 98% of the accounts surveyed are either free or can become free with direct deposit, a certain amount of transaction activity, or other account relationships at the credit union, is required.
The average overdraft fee at credit unions is up this year, $27.76, versus $26.96 in 2016, according to the Bankrate.com survey. However, it is still lower than the average overdraft fee charged at banks ($33.04), according to the Bankrate.com survey.
Additional findings from the Bankrate.com survey:
- Just 16% of accounts have a monthly fee, down from 24% last year. The most common fee is $5, up from $2 last year.
- 64% of credit unions charge an ATM fee for going outside the network. Of those charging, $1.50 is the most common fee (versus $2.50 at banks).
- 96% of credit unions charge non-members who withdraw money from the credit union's ATMs. Among those charging, $3 is the most common fee just as with banks.
- 68% of the accounts surveyed have no minimum opening deposit, and no account requires more than $50 to open. The average minimum required to open an account dipped to a new low of $8.18 (down from $10.26 last year).
- Only 38% of the accounts surveyed pay interest at the minimum deposit. The average yield hit a new low of 0.08%.
Additional information on the full survey can be found here: www.bankrate.com/finance/checking/credit-union-checking-survey-2017.aspx